as it did among the antediluvians, till the flood came, and, among the inhabitants of Sodom, till the fire came down from heaven to consume them.]
This melancholy prospect renders it necessary for me to point out, II. The danger of that state —
We have before observed, that the text primarily refers to the coming of Christ to destroy Jerusalem, but has a further reference also to his coming to judge the world. Agreeably to this view of it, shall be our consideration of the danger that attends the state therein described.
Consider then its danger,
1. To the nation —
[There is a time when Christ comes to punish nations, just as he did to punish Jerusalem. And how shall we judge of the time that he will come ? I answer, then is he most likely to come, when a nation is in the state before described. That he is visiting the nations now, is a fact so clear, that no thoughtful man can entertain a doubt of it. Hitherto the showers of his wrath, which have deluged other lands, have but just sprinkled ours : but the clouds are black, and gathering thick around us : and the darkest symptom is, that, " though his hand is lifted up, we will not see it." Consult the Scrip- tures, and see whether this security be not the surest forerunner of his judgments? See what was the state of Jerusalem pre- vious to the Babylonish captivity, and say whether, whilst our state so precisely accords with it, we have not reason to tremble at the prospect of her judgments3? or let the predicted fall of the mystical Babylon be taken as a ground of your decision b. The truth is, that, amidst all the advantages which we possess for superior piety, we take the lead in an idolatrous attachment to wealth and pleasure, and in a presumptuous confidence in an arm of flesh : we may well therefore expect, that the cup which others have drunk of, shall be put into our hands0; and that our superior guilt will issue in more aggravated calamities'1.]
2. To individuals —
[The Lord Jesus may not in any signal manner visit men in this life; but he will infallibly call them to judgment in the world to come. For this end he will come to them, as soon as
a Isai. xlvii. 8—11. b ReVi xviii> 7> 8>
c Jer. xxv. 15, 28, 29.
d Amos vi. 3 — 6. and Isai. xxii. 12 — 14.